Saturday Morning Open Thread

Zimmmermanpalooza starts Monday! Are you stoked? I'll be deliberately AWOL during the trial (as opposed to the forced absence of work load.) Good luck to you all. (Added by Jeralyn: Note that this is written by Big Tent Democat. TalkLeft and I will definitely be following all developments.)

You could always chime in on the revelations about all the government efforts to collect information. We're seeing a textbook case of wanting to have it both ways, with the government telling us, on the one hand, that these programs are supercalifragilistically VITAL to protecting us from EVIL, and on the other hand, telling us, hey, it's no big deal - it's not like we're actually listening to your calls or reading your e-mails.

[I'm amazed - aren't you? - that with all this information, it seems the only plots we can ever interrupt are the ones we engineer ourselves. And by "we," I mean the FBI.]

They do apparently think we're too stupid to understand what "metadata" is and how it can be used - although they shouldn't, since there have to have been a gazillion Google searches on the term by now.

In the NSA we trust, right? No reason now not to go get that special chip - that way we can just give up all illusion that we actually have any rights.

I can't wait to find out how much worse the GOP will be on this so I can start saving my money to help elect more Democrats like Obama...

Having read the Armando-GG thread, I am confirmed in my pre-existing anti-Twitter views. I much prefer to learn from BTD displaying analytical depth, rather than one necessarily conclusory mini-thought at a time.

You know, it's hard enough nowadays keeping secret the location of our underground munitions bunker next to that abandoned airstrip, without giving the feds yet another means to track our every movemen--D'OH!!!
;-D

Looking at his Twitter stuff, using the link you provided, Peter. I gave up after reading about six tweets.
I prefer depth. Twitter is just totally unappealing to me. I don't like sound bites (or read bites, or whatever) in my news or news analyses, and I won't be returning to Twitter.

"I'm not going to hide," Snowden said Sunday afternoon. "Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest."

Asked whether he believed his disclosures would change anything, he said: "I think they already have. Everyone, everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten-- and they're talking about it. They have to power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state."

Snowden left the country before the story broke. He is in Hong Kong and hopes to be given asylum somewhere in the world.

Does Ecuador have an embassy in Hong Kong? What country would be willing to go against the U.S. by sheltering Snowden?

that are not party to any extradition treaty with the U.S., there are other considerations. First, as pointed out in the linked "wikianswer," any country can agree to extradite a given individual, treaty or no treaty, on a case by case basis. Second, even where there is a treaty, there is the question of mutuality; the offense with which the target is charged in the U.S. (none at all against Mr. Snowden at this time, of course) must also be, or be equivalent to, a crime that exists in the "requested" country. Third, under most treaties, extradition will not be granted for "offenses of a political character." And I'm sure there are others.

and many other civilized countries. But actually, it is not exactly that those nations won't extradite, but rather that they demand a condition before extraditing (which the U.S. will honor) that the defendant not face the death penalty upon his/her return for prosecution.